Leadership Consultant KEDC Great Questions Improve Student Engagement As we dig into our Common Core State Standards, Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC 11/20/2018

Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC What do the “gurus” (experts) say about questions and learning? 11/20/2018 Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC

Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC When you see “Him,” What is expected of all students or What is the benefit to students. When you see “Her,” Questioning strategies or Teacher actions. 11/20/2018 Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC

Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC In general, research shows that instruction involving questioning is more effective than instruction without questioning. 11/20/2018 Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC

Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC Teachers often have little or no training in questioning techniques, so being familiar with the research is a good place to start. Improving in this area requires a reflective and metacognitive approach. 11/20/2018 Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC

Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC WHY ASK QUESTIONS? Teachers ask questions for a variety of purposes, including: To actively involve students in the lesson To increase motivation or interest To evaluate students’ preparation To check on completion of work 11/20/2018 Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC

Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC To develop critical thinking skills To review previous lessons To nurture insights To assess achievement or mastery of goals and objectives To stimulate independent learning 11/20/2018 Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC

Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC One important finding is that questions that focus student attention on important elements of a lesson result in better comprehension than those that focus on unusual or interesting elements. 11/20/2018 Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC

Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC A teacher may vary his or her purpose in asking questions during a single lesson, or a single question may have more than one purpose. 11/20/2018 Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC

Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC John Dewey What’s in a question you ask? EVERYTHING. It is a way of evoking stimulating response or stultifying inquiry. In essence, it is the core of teaching. 11/20/2018 Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC

Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC J. T. Dillon An educative question is purposeful, clearly focused, carefully conceived and well-formulated. It does not occur in our mind; we must find it. It does not take on a shape; we must give it form. It does not present itself; we must deliver it. … To conceive it requires thought, to formulate it requires labor, and to pose it, tact. 11/20/2018 Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC

Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC An Educative Question must be designed by the teacher In view of a particular purpose In consideration of a discrete content focus Relative to the use of a determined level of cognition An Educative Question must be designed by the teacher As it relates to the task at hand; As it reflects the curriculum and CCSS; And it reviews, extends or challenges student thinking. 11/20/2018 Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC

Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC An Educative Question Increases student engagement in the curriculum Helps students to focus on what is important Improves the rate and degree of student learning Enhances the transfer of learning to other areas 11/20/2018 Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC

Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC An Educative Question must be designed by the teacher In view of a particular purpose In consideration of a discrete content focus Relative to the use of a determined level of cognition An educative question must be conceived 1) in view of a particular purpose 2) in consideration of a discrete content focus 3) relative to the use of a determined level of cognition Three Characteristics or Recitation Questions: 1)What is in a question is not the thing that question asks about Teachers do not raise a question in recitation because they do not know the answer or because they are curious as to the student’s answer. Teachers have other reasons for asking questions for which they have the answer and presume (or at least hope) that students have the answers. What are some of these reasons? INVITE PARTICIPANTS TO RESPOND HERE: Possible responses: Make sure a given students knows the answer, check on whether students did homework; drill and practice; review for a test. 2)Answers are known before asking and confirmed after asking. In general, there is only oneanswer to a question raised in recitation, and the teacher has determined before the recitation what the correct answer is.This is true whether 11/20/2018 Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC

Recitation Two Contexts for Oral Questioning What is in question is not the thing the question asks about. Answers are known before asking and confirmed after asking. The questioner reacts to the answer with an evaluation as to its correctness. Three Characteristics or Recitation Questions: 1)What is in a question is not the thing that question asks about Teachers do not raise a question in recitation because they do not know the answer or because they are curious as to the student’s answer. Teachers have other reasons for asking questions for which they have the answer and presume (or at least hope) that students have the answers. What are some of these reasons? INVITE PARTICIPANTS TO RESPOND HERE: Possible responses: Make sure a given students knows the answer, check on whether students did homework; drill and practice; review for a test, assess prior knowledge; closure on a lesson, bell ringer for beginning class). 2)Answers are known before asking and confirmed after asking. In general, there is only one answer to a question raised in recitation, and the teacher has determined before the recitation what the correct answer is. This is true whether the question is factual or interpretive, simple or complex, and so on. 3)The questioner reacts to the answer with an evaluation as to its correctness or incorrectness. 11/20/2018 Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC

Discussion Two Contexts for Oral Questioning Questions are open for discussion rather than closed for an answer. The teacher is NOT the source of the answer. Discussion is characterized by an exchange of talk. On the other hand, discussion looks and feels a lot different from recitation. In discussion Questions are open for discussion rather than closed for answer The teacher is not the source of the answer (i.e, the teacher has not determined the correctness of an answer before it is offered. Here is where I believe an oral open response question can be used to facilitate student discussion in small groups with responses shared with the whole group. Discussion is characterized by an exchange of talk – a mix of statements and questions from both students and teachers. 11/20/2018 Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC

Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC Purpose of Question Recitation Discussion To get students to talk To review and assess what is known To get students to think To work out understanding of content Role of Teacher Recitation Discussion Speaks at every turn Speaks in questions Evaluates the student answers as to correctness Does not speak at every turn, but yields floor to students Does not always speak in questions but also makes comments Poses question for discussion Asks questions that perplex self On the other hand, discussion looks and feels a lot different from recitation. In discussion Questions are open for discussion rather than closed for answer The teacher is not the source of the answer (i.e, the teacher has not determined the correctness of an answer before it is offered. Here is where I believe an oral open response question can be used to facilitate student discussion in small groups with responses shared with the whole group. Discussion is characterized by an exchange of talk – a mix of statements and questions from both students and teachers. 11/20/2018 Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC

Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC Recitation questions should be structured so that most elicit correct responses. 11/20/2018 Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC

Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC We are not referring to questions that fill class time or that are carelessly lifted from teacher’s manuals, programs, or other sources. We are referring to Educative Questions. An educative question must be conceived 1) in view of a particular purpose 2) in consideration of a discrete content focus 3) relative to the use of a determined level of cognition Three Characteristics or Recitation Questions: 1)What is in a question is not the thing that question asks about Teachers do not raise a question in recitation because they do not know the answer or because they are curious as to the student’s answer. Teachers have other reasons for asking questions for which they have the answer and presume (or at least hope) that students have the answers. What are some of these reasons? INVITE PARTICIPANTS TO RESPOND HERE: Possible responses: Make sure a given students knows the answer, check on whether students did homework; drill and practice; review for a test. 2)Answers are known before asking and confirmed after asking. In general, there is only oneanswer to a question raised in recitation, and the teacher has determined before the recitation what the correct answer is.This is true whether 11/20/2018 Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC

Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC How does an “educative question” relate to an LDC Module? 4 minutes: 1 for thinking; 3 for listening to and sharing with others 11/20/2018 Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC

Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC Time ! Use it wisely! Plan for its use. Keep kids “on the clock.” Quick estimate: age + 2 for attention span. Never forget your most precious resource is Time ! 11/20/2018 Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC

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Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC Five student behaviors that boost their ability to pay attention: S L A N T Sit Up. Listen. Ask and answer questions. Nod your head. Track the speaker. 11/20/2018 Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC

Managing Time for Instruction and Wait Time Less than 10% of class time should be spent on classroom clerical duties. 60% or more classroom time should be spent on instructional activity with active participation – the consistent engagement of the mind of all the learners with that being learned. 30% or less should be spent on facilitation of learning or guided practice of the curriculum 11/20/2018 Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC

Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC Some Cautions for our Students include: Build in the opportunity to “pass” Put them on the clock for extended activities (Tell them, “you have 1 minute to answer correctly”) Direct Instruction / Questioning Time K-3 Less than 5 min. followed by activity or application 4-7 5:2 8-12 8:2 Age + 2. 11/20/2018 Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC

Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC Follow a series of steps so they can successfully respond to the question. Adjust your answer after hearing others ! Share your answer ! Keep your answer a secret! Decipher the Question ! Attend to the Question ! 11/20/2018 Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC

Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC Wait Time : the time you give to a student to process information Steps: Pose the question Wait Time I: pause 3-5 seconds after posing the question Student Responds Wait Time II: pause at least 3-5 seconds after the student responds Other students complete their thinking 11/20/2018 Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC

Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC Managing Time and Wait Time Improvements in student achievement Increases in the number of higher cognitive responses generated by students Increases in the length of student responses Increases in the number of unsolicited responses Decreases in students’ failure to respond Increases in the amount and quality of evidence students offer to support their inferences 11/20/2018 Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC

Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC Managing Time and Wait Time (cont) 7) Increases in contributions by students who do not participate much when wait-time is under three seconds 8) Expansion of the variety of responses offered by students 9) Decreases in student interruptions 10)Increases in student to student interactions around content 11)Increases in the number of questions posed by students 11/20/2018 Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC

Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC Increasing Wait Time beyond 3 seconds is positively related to the following teacher outcomes: Increases in flexibility of teachers responses, with teachers listening more and engaging students in more discussions Increases in teacher expectations regarding students usually regarded as “slow” Expansion of the variety of questions asked by teachers Increases in the number of higher cognitive questions asked by teachers 11/20/2018 Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC

Other Ways for Students to Respond to Questions Signaled Response: Have every student signal the answer. Example: “thumbs up if true, thumbs down if false, to the side if not sure.” Work Samples: Have students write their answers (chalk or white boards, large cardstock); teacher circulates or students hold up answers. 11/20/2018 Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC

Other Ways for Students to Respond to Questions Pairs Check: Students work in four-person teams (two pairs consisting of a coach and worker each). Pairs complete a short assignment that reinforces lessons, checking answers with the other half of their team. Coaches and workers trade jobs after each problem. Individual Responses: Yes, sometimes you just have to call out someone’s name to bring them out of the fog. 11/20/2018 Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC